Łuków is a city in eastern Poland with 30,727 inhabitants in 2005 in Lublin Voivodeship since 1999, previously in Siedlce Voivodeship (1975-1998) and the capital of Łuków powiat. Łuków was established about 1233 to guard the eastern border of Poland against Yotvingians and Lithuanians. Łuków also is an important railroad junction on the east-west line from Brest-Litovsk to Warsaw and Berlin with connections to Deblin and to Skierniewice. Łuków gmina with a population of 16,500 on the Lukow Plateau has 2740 farms mainly for breeding cows and pigs and growing grain and potatoes. 33% of the gmina is covered by forests. [June 2009]

Jewish settlement in Łukow is probably from around 1257 or 1334 or some time in the second half of the 14th century on land near the castle since the Jews were brought to steward the castle and surrounding area for the prince. They came to escape persecution in Western Europe. A June 14, 1403 grant of Magdeburg right to the city does not mention Jews specifically. Łukow Jews received the privilege to acquire land and possess a cemetery probably in the 15th century. which King Jan Casimir reconfirmed on May 10, 1659, but the location of that cemetery is unknown. The first known Jewish cemetery location was mid-18th century by the river Krzną, currently a hospital and partial park. The site purchased from the Starost łukowskiego became the perpetual property of the city on February 27, 1792 on a use privilege granted by King Stanislaw August to the kahal and enlarged and fenced at the cost of 400 rs+ about 175l. However, in 1756, the authorities ordered its closure because the location constituted a health hazard for epidemics. At a meeting in March 1848, the kahal requested the existing cemetery continue to serve with no response. Wrangling continued for a decade until the municipality accepted the new location, but the Jews lacked sufficient funds so the transaction was postponed for another year. In December 1859 the council's 53 members found funds to purchase the land for a new cemetery by leasing the monopoly on the sale of yeast, worth 450 rs. per annum. All Lukow Jews accepted this decision and built the new cemetery on the road leading to Żelechów, current ulica Warszawskiej. The Nazis closed it and ordered the dead be buried at the provisional cemetery outside the town in the woods on ulica Domaszewskiej between current ulica Radzyńską and Świderską. There, mass executions of Jews were carried out and mass graves created. When the ghetto was liquidated on November 11, 1942, the Nazis murdered 200 at the Jewish cemetery on ul. Warszawskiej. After WWII, the remains of murdered Jews scattered in graves around the Łukowa were reburied in mass grave in the Jewish cemetery. The Jewish Historical Institute archives holds an obituary from June 19, 1949 reading "On 19 June 1949 at 14.00 in the Jewish cemetery in Łukowie ulica Warszawskiej exhumation of remains will take place for the Jews murdered by the Nazis in Łukowa city and surrounding areas. To take part in the funeral of the murdered, all citizens are invitde. The Committee." There, a stepped pyramid resembling a slender monument of surviving gravestones was created to commemorate those murdered during WW II, both Jewish residents and partisans. A wall plaque is inscribed in Hebrew and Polish and has a Mogen David. Hooligans guzzle beer and break bottles, spray graffiti and scatter wood in the cemetery today. In July 2008 a book written by dr. Krzysztofa Czubaszka entitledThe Jews Łukowa and the Surrounding Area was published, a comprehensive, insightful and well documented history devoted to the Jewish community and the area surrounding Łukowa. See www.zydzi-lukow.republika.pl .Photos. [May 2009]

Alternate Yiddish names are Lukova and Likova. Lukow is located in Siedlechie province at 51º56 22º23, 110 km from Warsaw and 28 km from Siedlce. The cemetery was located between Partyzantow and Siedemsetlecia Streets and the river Krzna. Present town population is 5,000-25,000 with fewer than 10 Jews.

The Jewish community dates from 1589. 1912 Jewish population was 7,985. 1939 total town population [not just Jews] was 14,865. The cemetery probably was established in the 18th century. The last known burial was the second half of the 19th century. The isolated urban flat land has no sign or marker. No trace of the cemetery exists. The site is now a hospital.

Cezary Ostas completed this survey on 27 Nov 1992 using the urban historical study of Lukow by PZK Lublin-1988, available in the conservator's office in Siedlce. He visited the site on 9 Oct 1992 and interviewed Stanislaw Ostrowski and Karol Cieslak, Lukow, on 27 Nov 1992. He no longer lives there.

LUKOW (II): US Commission No. POCE000651 (Warsawska ulica)

See Lukow (I) for town information.

The cemetery (lapidarium) was located on Warsawska Street. The cemetery key is in the shop of WSS "Spotem" near the cemetery. The cemetery probably was established in the second half of the 19th century with last known burial during WWII. The urban flat land has no sign or marker. Reached by turning directly off a public road, access is entirely closed. A metal fence and a locking gate surround part of the site. Before WWII, the size of the cemetery was 1.5 ha, but now it is only 1.037 ha. 20-100 stones, in original location was less than 25% toppled or broken, date from the 19th century. The granite and sandstone rough stones/boulders, flat-shaped stones, finely smoothed and inscribed stones, or flat stones with carved relief decoration have Yiddish inscriptions. No known mass graves. The municipality owns the property used for Jewish cemetery only. Adjacent properties are commercial or industrial and residential. Organized individual tours and local residents visit occasionally. The cemetery was vandalized during WWII but not in the last ten years. Maintenance: The remaining stones were incorporated into one obelisk [called the Lukow Holocaust Memorial, built in 1975], vegetation cleared, and wall and gate fixed by the local authorities who maintain the site yearly by clearing or cleaning. No structures. Weather erosion is a moderate threat. Pollution and incompatible nearby development are a slight threat.

Cezary Ostas, Siedlce, ul. Pomorska 1/68, tel. 290-95 completed this survey on 27 Nov 1992 using the urban historical study of Lukow by PZK Lublin-1988, available in the conservator's office in Siedlce. He visited the site on 9 Oct 1992. He interviewed Stanislaw Ostrowski, Lukow, on 27 Nov 1992.

NEW CEMETERY: UPDATE: The new Jewish cemetery in Łuków established in the 19th century a located on the road from Łuków to Garwolin, at Warszawska Street, was closed by the Nazis.They ordered that the Jews to bury their relatives in the forest at Domaszewska Street, between today's Radzyńska and Świderska Streets. Here, executions of Jewish citizens took place. In 1942 liquidation of the ghetto murdered approx. 200 persons. Today, a pyramid-shaped lapidary with a plaque bears this inscription: "In commemoration of all Jewish partisans and those murdered by German occupier between 1939 - 1943 in Łuków and vicinity". The lapidary is topped with a Star of David. The cemetery is fenced. [Apr 2013]